The 5 Stages Of Having Your Computer Crash (A Tale Of Millennial Tragedy)

Everyone is afraid of losing it all.

Their pictures, their music, their work, their Internet connection. 

Recently, that happened to me. Someone spilled a beer on my computer at the airport. It functioned for about a week, but ironically, as soon as I came to my senses and decided to have a tech professional see it, it crashed. 

As of now, I’ve lost everything. I found myself going through many emotions during this past week, and I’m sure others can relate.

1. Anger.

At first, I was super fucking angry. I screamed at every employee in the repair shop. In my mind, THEY broke my computer. It was just fine until I took it there, right? No – that’s the anger talking. I can scream at whomever I want, but it’s not going to fix anything. Try to remind yourself that they did all they could, but it was too late. It’s okay for you to be livid, I was, but don’t let yourself stay in this emotion for too long. It’s not healthy.

2. Denial.

After a day or two of screaming, the denial sets in. I couldn’t believe I lost everything. My entire life’s work, writing, schoolwork, and scripts, all gone. Where do I even go from here? It obviously couldn’t be true. I tried and tried again to turn the computer on. You can try to forget about it for a day or two but eventually you’ll have to get back to work.

3. Depression.

When you finally have to do some work, the depression stage begins. You turn to use your computer and you realize it’s no longer there. How could this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? I can only pray that Apple will somehow get everything off my old computer. Losing everything, and I mean everything, hurts. I’m not an idiot, I have backed up my computer in the past, but everyday I do new work, and now that’s gone. It’s okay to be upset, eat some cookies and say “fuck you” to whoever feels appropriate, but eventually, you have to move on.

4. Laziness.

What do you do when you no longer have a computer? Not school work that’s for sure. I’ve watched more episodes of Gilmore Girls on Netflix in the past week than I have in my life. (Which is definitely not a good thing). I feel naked without it. Is that weird? Am I too attached to technology? Maybe. But as a writer, my computer is my life. You’ll have to find a way to motivate yourself to do work again. School can’t be ignored for that long.

5. Acceptance.

Finally, you’ll accept it. You’ll start putting together what you remember and trying to work with what you’ve got. It’s tough, but it happens. Maybe I shouldn’t have been charging my computer at an airport bar, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Get yourself back to work and keep this incident in your mind for the future. It sounds like something you can’t do, but you can. It sucks to lose everything, but I know I won’t be letting that happen again. Learn from the mistake and move on. Maybe starting over will give you some fresh ideas. It doesn’t all have to be bad.